Customer Reviews

Spirit House

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The locale is Bangkok, Thailand and the story begins with the dream or nightmare of Vincent Calvino. Calvino is an ex-lawyer, ex-cop who does private investigation work - when he can get it. He is a drunk and also uses whores, smokes, etc. His dream is about a friend who was recently killed and in the dream someone is coming after him as well. He wakes from this dream/nightmare at his apartment next to a Thai whore whose name he has forgotten - again. That is because he was so inebriated he couldn't remember. His housekeeper, Mrs. Jamthong - who is a hoot all by herself!, wakes him yelling at him that he is late for work and to come eat breakfast. The prostitute leaves and Calvino (known to the Thais as "Khun Winee" since they can't pronounce the "v" for "Vinee") gets to the table to read the paper. He sees a photo of a man slumped over a desk - dead. His assistant, Ratana, calls and tells him to call her as soon as he is through with his meal. He recognizes he knows the dead "farang" - white man or foreigner to the Thais. He is a Brit named Ben Hoadley. He gets to his office and finds that Ben Hoadley's father in England wants Calvino to investigate his son's murder. The Thai newspaper reported that a "thinner addict" had done the deed. Into his office comes Kiko, friend and romantic interest, who knows the thinner addict, Lek, and swears that he could not have done it.

Thus begins an amazing string of events as Calvino works with Kiko, Pratt (a friend in the Bangkok police) and uncovers the motives and events of why first Jeff Logan and then Ben Hoadley and during the course of the story several others were murdered. How Calvino gets to the resolution amid the extreme dangers he and others around him face is a fantastic tale of suspense, mystery, intrigue and the underworld.

As a woman, I would say that Vincent Calvino is a true man's man and the kind of detective that men more than women would enjoy reading about. The Spirit House is the first of the many novels that Mr. Moore has written about Calvino. The details and descriptions are very image and thought provoking. I highly recommend it!

Through the underbelly Bangkok, Vincent Calvino confronts crime bosses, corrupt cops, prostitutes, slum dwellers, and addicts to unravel this murder mystery. Where the truth often takes the back seat to other other cultural values, Thailand is a perfect setting for the novel. The reader is positioned right on the edge between the expat life and local community- getting real insight into both worlds. It feels like you could get sucked into the Bangkok mess at any moment.

To this end, Christopher Moore is a very clever author, with a style closer to Film Noir rather than the everyday P.I./mystery writers. His protagonist, Vincent Calvino, is an unassuming hero who regularly drinks, visits the red lights of Patpong, and barely scrapes by. Yet, he preserves relentlessly where few others do (or are willing to go). He is certainly not against rolling up his sleeves and getting dirty, or bloody, whatever the case may be.

Brilliant! Plot, pacing, characters, and - above all - a totally immersive sense of place; this one has it all. I was disappointed not to find anything else by Mr. Moore avaliable for the Kindle. Hopefully that will be rectified soon.

A typical, modern, conflicted "gumshoe" story is made all the more interesting by the exotic (and erotic) backdrop. If set in LA, the hero's personality would border on trite. In Bangkok, it is a stark contrast to the wasted expats, elitism of the rich, and despair of the destitute.

I found the story engaging, fast-paced, and interesting while being informative about the culture and subculture of such a famous foreign city. The plot made sense, and the characters were believable and identifiable despite being foreign. This is very much an American perspective against a foreign backdrop, and the story does a very good job at keeping the two separate.

It is at times a little rough, and most likely not for those easily offended by sexual violence or those looking for a "Murder She Wrote" mystery. If you want to explore some of the darker aspects of the human spirit from an American perspective in an international setting, and get a good mystery thrown in, and maintain some hope for humanity in the process, then this is a read for you.

WORD OF WARNING -- this book is the first of a series. I stumbled upon it accidentally by fat-fingering an order for a Christopher Moore (without the G.) novel. I would very much like to continue the series on my Kindle, but like some other series, NOT ALL ARE YET AVAILABLE FOR THE KINDLE at the time of this writing. I would strongly suggest that you check the availability of the other books in this series and weigh that in your decision. At the least, you may want to submit a request to the publisher to produce a Kindle edition of the presently unavailable volumes to avoid having to go to paper to fill in the gaps.

As a fairly new kindle owner and a lover of crime/mysteries, I was excited to discover this free kindle version download. I had never heard of the author, don't much care for Asian settings, am not into the supernatural so I didn't expect much - but hey - it was free.

So I was very surprised to be drawn right into the story, found I liked the style of writing because it was so different from what I usually read, and learned alot about a subject (Thailand) that had previously held no interest for me.

I agree with the other posters that this is not for the feint of heart - it's about the seamy side of life. If you can watch CSI or have read some of Patricia Cornwell's novels this one is certainly no worse.

I only wish I had a Thai/English dictionary while I was reading it because there were many words I wanted to look up. Some I never got the drift of the meaning, never mind knowing how to pronounce them. Here's one you'll need to know:

Farang (in Thai: ½ÃÑè§), sometimes pronounced falang, is the generic Thai word for a foreigner of European ancestry.

Based on this book, I'd even pay for another Vincent Calvino novel or anything by Christopher G. Moore.

What an exceptional setting for a crime mystery. I enjoy the cultural contrasts and the spirit angle. There are some tough and dark images in this read so it is not for the faint of heart.
It is a different world and one suited to this type of adventure. It is a third world brutality and something to be enjoyed if you can stomach it.

I have read many, many mysteries and thrillers, and I was really happy to come across this particular book by Christopher G. Moore. It's a little bit different than what I was used to reading. His protagonist is definitely reminiscent of the detectives from film noir movies.

But, wow, what a great setting for a story! I really enjoyed being taken to Bangkok by this author. It made the book incredibly interesting and definitely was a learning experience for me.

I guess that is why I enjoyed it so much. I thought the plot was very good, the characters were interesting, and, as a bonus, I got to learn about a very exotic locale. When a book offers me both entertainment and the opportunity to learn something new, well, that is just about as close as I can get to heaven, here on earth.

I think this book would also appeal to male readers, either as well as, or maybe even more so, than to female readers. So many of the thrillers I read seemed geared to a female audience. I think it is great that this mystery series could appeal to readers of either sex. I certainly look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Reviewer: Renee S. NYC. August 13, 2008
The plot is typical Noir, the hero typical world-weary and disillusioned Hammett or
Chandler, but the atmosphere is stunning!
It was a whole new world for me and I fell
completely into it from Vinnie's first nightmare to the final dripping conclusion.
Mr. Moore's descriptions of Thailand and
the Thai people are evocative and real. One
can feel the heat and humidity, see the swirls
and flashes of colors, and almost touch the waves of misery that radiate off
the pages. And the story's not bad either. I was interested in all the little tidbits
about life in Bangkok - and the story's not bad either. There were a confusing number
of characters, some of whom did not advance the plot at all, and the plotting could have been tighter, but all-in-all I would definitely recommend the book. Just be sure you read it in an air-conditioned space, because otherwise you will surely melt from its heat!

I'm pleased to see the Calvino books by Christopher Moore coming into more widespread release. Spirit House is the first of Moore's books that I ever picked up, and it's still one of my favourites. Picking this up, I can feel like I'm back in Bangkok. Moore has a well-earned reputation for his attention to detail, to the gritty background of the Thai capitol, beyond just the bars and the general fluff that gets publicized, to the wider variety of the city that makes it such a great place to be.

That attention to detail and realism, though, is just the backdrop to what are very well plotted and riveting detective stories. Spirit House develops, in proper crime fashion, from a murder in the paper, to a case, to a puzzle, to an abattoir; with bodies cheerfully bobbing in the waters of Chao Phraya; katoeys slit to pieces; the police hovering in the wings; and a final denouement I wont give away.

And there's that image of the rat-scabbed cat on its last legs licking passionately at the thick liquid oozing out of the bottom of the junkyard truck.

On lazy days I look for a novel that will take me into an unexplored world, will carry me along so that I don't move from the chair. Maybe once in 3 years, I find such a novel and then tell everybody to leave me alone so I can read it. After reading "Infidelity Index" I hoped that this might be as good. It is a fluid, fun read and I just sat back and ate it up, pushing away all distractions until it was done. I hope Moore gets the audience he deserves. I have a friend who burnt his eyes out on the kindle edition and since I have been singing his praises, there is a little Moore cult forming, as it should. This book is fantastic. Get on it.